Bedtime

The Western Air Temple had been dead for a century. Its people were killed in evil, purging fire. This would, to many, call for a bit of reverence when walking the temple's ancient halls. At least a little mourning would have been acceptable, as well.

Sokka and Toph didn't do acceptable.

Something they did do, and were doing right now, was Sokka charging down one of the hallways while laughing like a maniac, with Toph hoisted up on his back pointing and waving around a small dark knife that had been her one-of-a-kind 'meteor bracelet' before she used her Metalbending to temporarily reshape it. Toph herself was showing off her multi-tasking skills by screaming, "CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!" underneath her own wild laughter.

This wasn't even the most irreverent thing they had done today.

The rampage stopped amidst the dormitories, just outside of Toph's room. The room itself was no different, visually, from any other cell that had served the Air Nomad Nuns a century ago. Those long-dead Airbenders, and now Sokka, might have been surprised to discover that this particular room was indirectly connected by various architectural features and stone structural supports to every other spot in the entire main temple, but on this particular night, Toph was unable to feel those connections.

Sokka walked inside the room and deposited Toph onto the bed. He was very careful of her feet. "There you go," he said. "Tomorrow's supposed to be your last healing session with Katara, right?"

Toph nodded. "I can't wait to see right again."

"I bet Zuko can't wait, either," Sokka chuckled. "I mean, all in all, you throwing rocks at his head every day that you still can't walk isn't that bad a punishment, but the way he gets all pouty about it would make me feel sorry for him if it wasn't so funny."

Toph sniffed with disdain. "Hey, he's the one who burned my feet, and he came here to rough it with us. And the stuff I throw at him aren't even real rocks, just tightly packed sand and dust."

Sokka rolled his eyes, forgetting that Toph wouldn't be able to see it. "Oh yeah, big difference. I'll have to keep that in mind." He stretched the kinks out of his arms and back, and sighed. "You're not much heavier than a young tiger seal, but it's been a long day. I'm pooped."

"Aren't you going to tell me a bedtime story?" Toph's voice was higher-pitched than usual, and wibbled as she spoke.

Sokka snorted. "Yeah, sure. There was once a girl named Toph who rode around on her friend Sokka all day. Then she went to sleep, and he had an apple before turning in himself. The end. Most epic story you've ever heard, right?"

Toph leaned back on her bed. "No, really, what you got? I never heard a good bedtime story that didn't have to do with obedient young women in silk. Tell me something really epic. I bet the Water Tribes have tons of stuff like that."

"I thought you said that Water Tribe slumber parties must stink?" Sokka crossed his arms. "I told you a great story that time!"

"A ghost story. And yeah, that stunk. Tell me something more adventure-like; I kind of miss fighting evil all the time. Hey, I'll even help you."

Sokka considered that, and sat down on Toph's bed. "Well, I guess I can give it a try..."


"All right, so, um, there was this hero. Strong, brave, respected, a great leader. And had, like, the best sword ever. Seriously, it was beautiful."

"And her name was Seong Gyo Gi Gye!"

"Her name was... wait, who's telling this story?"

"Like I said, I'm helping. I want to hear a story, not a weaponsmith's spring catalog."

"It's summer."

"It's boring. Now, tell me about Seong Gyo Gi Gye!"

"All right. So... okay, she was, like, born in this village in the middle of an enchanted forest. An evil enchanted forest. Seriously, the forest was completely filled with evil spirits. Also, it had savages in it, criminals from the village who ran away and lived like animals. That village was such a lame place to live that the people pretty much gave up on life, stopped hunting, stopped getting married, stopped having kids, and stuff. So Seong Gyo Gi Gye was the youngest person in the whole village. But she was pretty tough, and hadn't give up yet, so she would go hunting in the forest to find food for the people, and she was the only one who could come back out alive again."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why was she able to survive? It sounds like a nasty place."

"Because she was just that good, that's why!"

"That's kind of tough to swallow. Ooh! How about she's not really human? Her father wasn't really her father, because her mother had a dream about a Forest Spirit one night and then after that she was having a baby! Seong Gyo Gi Gye was half-spirit and that's why she was so awesome and dangerous! And her father never liked her, even though he thought she was really his daughter, because she was so different from what he always wanted. Her mother tried her best, but she wasn't smart or cool enough to handle her daughter."

"Okay, that will work, I guess. Ooh, and her hair was white!"

"I take it that's important?"

"Very important. Trust me. Anyway, the Spirits didn't like that she was always invading their turf, so they went after the village. They started stealing people away, one person at a time, and burning the characters of Seong Gyo Gi Gye's name on the outside of the houses that were raided."

"And sometimes the houses weren't long enough for all the characters, so they'd leave 'Seong Gyo' on one side and 'Gi Gye' on another."

"Okay, kind of an unnecessary detail there, but whatever amuses you. So, finally, the villagers got fed up with it all and decided to exile Seong Gyo Gi Gye from their community and cast her into the forest. Her parents didn't try to stop it, but they did give her some stuff. Her mother gave her an old, rusty family sword that wasn't sharp but was still very solid. Her father gave her a strong rope."

"A rope? That's it? And wait, I thought the sword was all awesome and beautiful."

"Shush up, I'm building towards something, here."

"Fine. What was she wearing?"

"Wearing?"

"Yeah! That's an important detail."

"Okay. Well, you know what, I'll let you decide."

"Sweet! She was wearing a hunting dress! Don't give me that look, Water Tribe, there is too such a thing. It's sturdy, and the dress is slit to let you move in it, and then you wear pants underneath that you tuck into your boots. Any preferences on the color?"

"Ooh! Um, white. No, black! No, green and blue! Yeah, dark green and blue. Okay, so she set out into the forest, and decided that as long as she was kicked out by the people she was taking care of, she'd totally show them what was what and find a way out of the forest for them. She followed her normal hunting trails, and journeyed deep into the forest. Suddenly, she met a... um..."

"One of the savages! He jumped down from the trees on top of Seong Gyo Gi Gye, and tried to wrestle her sword away from her! Only she wouldn't give it up, so they wound up on the ground, rolling through the leaves and bushes, until finally they both dropped the sword, and had to stop and catch their breath. The savage turned out to be a boy about Seong Go Gi Gye's age, the son of two of the criminals who lived in the forest. He was smart, and so when all the other savage kids got mixed up in the forest's dangers, he would be patient and observe things and figure out how to stay alive."

"Huh. Why did he attack her, then?"

"She was a freaky girl with white hair and a sword sneaking through his forest. What was he supposed to think?"

"Hm, good point. So, once they got the introductions out of the way, they figured out that they could help each other. The boy... um, his name was Luo... would show her the way through the forest, and in exchange he could join the village when they all escaped. His weapon of choice was this sweet hand-scythe he made from a tree branch and sharpened bone. He started leading his new friend out of the forest, when they encountered a... uh..."

"A Tiger Spirit! It popped out of this evil tree that had carvings all over it and was worshipped by the savages! All the trails and paths in the entire forest were pulled towards this tree, and so Seong Gyo Gi Gye and Luo didn't have a choice and had to face it!"

"Wow, that actually sounds pretty familiar. Anyway, the Tiger Spirit attacked them, and the kids had to fight it! I don't know if you've ever faced a cat hunter, but those suckers are fast and strong, so both the boy and the girl were having a hard time of it and were pretty much stuck helping each other to dodge the thing, never mind that it was a spirit and could do all kinds of crazy stuff like disappearing and shooting light thingies. But then, they got this idea. They tied Seong Gyo Gi Gye's rope around the handle of Luo's scythe and then split up, so while Luo distracted the Tiger spirit by moving and running like its usual ghost-prey, Seong Gyo Gi Gye twirled the scythe and threw it around the spirit's legs. The rope was made from plant fibers from the forest, so it could hold a spirit. Tied up like that, the Tiger Spirit could only roar at them, but it was already struggling to get free, so Seong Gyo Gi Gye took her sword and stabbed it right in the head. The Tiger Spirit was banished from the physical world, and its Spirit Blood soaked into the sword's blade and fixed it all up. The blade was made sharp enough to cut the wind, and it became sparkling red like a ruby."

"Did it feel like a ruby, too?"

"Sure. Only stronger. So they kids kept going through the forest, and other spirits came after them, but with Seong Gyo Gi Gye's sword, and Luo's knowing all the spirits' ways, they were able to defeat them all. They didn't kill all the spirits, though, because only the evil ones attacked them. They ignored the good spirits, and the good spirits ignored them back, so it was all cool there. The kids eventually got to the forests' edge, and found that it was completely closed off to them. The ghosts of all the villagers who had been taken since the beginning of time were all locked together like a fence, and Seong Gyo Gi Gye would have to destroy one of them in order to get through."

"Wow! That's awful! And I bet Seong Gyo Gi Gye's real father was there, too!"

"What?"

"Yeah, the other evil spirits were ticked off at him for creating their worst enemy, so they used him as the lock on the ghost-fence. Seong Gyo Gi Gye and Luo walked around the whole perimeter of the forest, looking for a gap, and saw the spirit because he didn't look like a person, he was a Wolf Spirit!"

"Oooh! Did he say anything?"

"Yes. He told Seong Gyo Gi Gye that he was her true father, and that he wanted her to use her ruby sword to kill him, so that the fence would break and all the ghosts would be freed, and she could leave the forest."

"No way!"

"He did! Luo offered to do it for her, but Seong Gyo Gi Gye was strong enough to handle it herself. She bowed to her father, thanked him for everything, and then stabbed him with the sword. He screamed like a little kid, and then faded away, and the chains holding the other ghosts fell and they all flew to freedom. Seong Gyo Gi Gye and Luo stepped out of the forest, and felt the warm sun on their skin for the first time."

"Aw, that's so bittersweet! They're free, but they had to kill her father to do it!"

"Are you... are you crying?"

"No. I just have sniffles. ...anyway, Seong Gyo Gi Gye and Luo went back to her village, now that all the evil spirits were dead or driven away, and led them out of the forest. They made a new village right next to a river that was great for fishing, and the people elected Seong Gyo Gi Gye their new Chief. And she lived happily ever after-"

"With Luo, who she married, and they had eight kids. But that probably wasn't the end, because even though they were happy, they liked to leave the village and travel sometimes, just the two of them, banishing evil spirits who might hurt people. They lived good lives... and long lives... and their kids all became... heroes of their own stories."

"But those, my good Toph, are tales for another day."


Sokka smiled and looked up at the ceiling of Toph's room. That was a pretty cool story. He especially liked the idea of the fence made of ghosts, and decided he was going to try drawing it as soon as he got paper and a brush set. He could make the center of the image the Wolf Spirit who turned out to be the girl-hero's father. That would be dramatic, and wolves were pretty cool. Maybe he'd depict the ghost-chain so that it spiraled around, the better to fill up the paper. "Hey, Toph," he said, easing out of his own thoughts. "How many ghosts do you figure it took for... Toph?"

The girl leaning heavily against him didn't respond. Angling his head forward, Sokka saw that her eyes were closed.

Oh, you had to be kidding.

"Toph? Toph? Wake up. You're cutting off the circulation to my leg. Toph? ...you're going to make me stay here all night, aren't you? Great. I wish I had taken a potty break before."

END